Feature: Is there a way forward for RTS?

RTS is doomed, if you listen to the naysayers. We sincerely hoped it wasn’t, so we asked EndWar dev lead and Ubisoft Montpellier creative director Michael de Plater, RUSE developer Eugen and British starlet Creative Assembly what problems are facing real-time strategy and whether or not the genre can move passed them.

Interviews by Patrick Garratt.

If ever a gaming genre has become a lightning rod for brow-knotting aphorisms, it’s real-time strategy. Conventional wisdom dictates that RTS has failed to crack the console market in this or any other generation, despite repeated attempts from talented teams, and its native PC home has been relentlessly attacked by pirates in recent years. It’s a two-pronged assault to which even the biggest names in games have apparently no answer, say the worriers.

Patience has worn thin and consumer interest has waned. Publisher behaviour has shown this cycle’s bloated budgets simply aren’t worth the return when it comes to RTS: big-name studios such as Ensemble and Massive have both suffered despite critical success, the former facing complete closure.

The console conundrum has proven unbreakable, with both Microsoft backing away after dipping a single toe in the water with Halo Wars, and EA retreating from 360 and PS3 after a cross-platform attempt with Red Alert 3. Command & Conquer 4 is to be PC-only.

But what exactly is the problem? Speaking in private, even veteran PC journalists admit they believe real-time strategy is all out of luck. Mr RTS is slumped over the corner of the roulette table, singing old war songs while the croupier calls security. And if lovers of the genre are picking up their chips and edging quietly away, how can there possibly be a route forward?

Take the myth, crush like bug

To answer the question of why RTS is seemingly betting black in a world of red, it’s first necessary to shatter some illusions. RTS has failed on console, right? Actually, no. The top-selling real-time strategy title between 2004-2009 was Halo Wars, a 360 exclusive, followed by Age of Empires III, Warcraft III: Battlechest, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Tom Clancy’s EndWar, which released on 360 and PS3 as well as PC. Halo Wars has life-to-date sales of around 700,000 in the US, and an estimated 1-1.2 million globally.

The assumption is obvious: Halo Wars succeeded because of the IP. Creative Assembly online manager Mark O’Connell reckons it’s not that simple.

“Of course, the Halo franchise is massively popular and undoubtedly brought a lot of its fan base over to its new genre,” he says, but “there is definitely a market for strategy games on console, as long as it’s done right.”

Michael de Plater, Ubisoft Montpellier creative director and lead on EndWar, adds that the problem isn’t that no console audience for RTS exists, but just that the overall RTS fan-base is slight.

“The RTS genre, on any platform, is nowhere near as big as the FPS or action-adventure genres and major publishers are increasingly focused on trying to make blockbuster games,” he says.

“So EndWar can simultaneously be one of the top five selling RTS games of the past five years and have disappointing sales compared to other Clancy releases like Rainbow 6.”

Given the facts, then, RTS’s sales failure is merely relative, and Halo Wars’ top billing suggests the genre actually has worked on consoles but has been a victim of the current hit-driven publishing climate. Both Ubisoft and developer Eugen clearly agree, as they’re working towards the release of RUSE, a big budget PC and console RTS launching in Ubi’s FY ’11. Why take the risk with consoles? Simple, they say: aesthetically, at least, console RTS can work.

“Strategy is universal,” says Eugen’s Mathieu Girard. “You can be a strategist when playing poker and chess, conducting business or managing projects.

“With RUSE, there is a great opportunity to bring the experience of being a general, and it works both on PC and on consoles. Being a strategist can be summarized in a few points: assess a situation, build a plan on the long run, solve present tactical problems, and anticipate what your opponent is doing. No need for 200 keyboard shortcuts to do all that.”

RUSE uses a hot-point system to pre-select the nearest friendly unit, and also pre-fetches the nearest enemy unit or destination when the player selects an order target.

“These choices make the need of mouse-pointing and screen-scrolling obsolete for the console,” adds Girard.

Brick up the Jolly Roger

The other RTS-is-dead Great Truth is that PC-only strategy games are so battered by piracy they never stand a chance. Piracy is never a black and white issue, and there have certainly been some shocking examples of PC RTS titles taking one for the team in recent years, the “team” being the unending legions of global leechers.

As realisation there was little hope of a clean outcome for the project dawned, Stardock boss Brad Wardell issued an outburst on the matter, saying “piracy pisses me off” and calling anyone playing hooky versions to “accept that you’re a thief”.

“Blaming piracy is easy,” he said, “but it hides other underlying causes. When Sins popped up as the #1 best selling game at retail a couple weeks ago, a game that has no copy protect whatsoever, that should tell you that piracy is not the primary issue.

“In the end, the pirates hurt themselves. PC game developers will either slowly migrate to making games that cater to the people who buy PC games or they’ll move to platforms where people are more inclined to buy games.”

It’s doubtful Wardell’s words were intentionally prophetic, as the mention of “platforms” there relates to hardware. Creative Assembly has remained at the forefront of desktop RTS work for many years, so much so that Sega bought the company in 2005. CA admits there’s a piracy problem with its games but has found an able “platform” solution in dissuading the torrents: Valve’s Steam.

“We were really pleased by both the critical and commercial success of Empire: Total War,” says CA’s O’Connell. “All games suffer from piracy to some degree, but since implementing Steam we have certainly made it more difficult for pirates.”

The benefits of using Steam for RTS delivery – or any other PC game distribution, for that matter – don’t just stop at piracy, either.

It’s “a single delivery system for content and updates,” O’Connell adds, “meaning that they are always playing the latest version of the game without having to hunt around the web for content. The platform also offers great online and multiplayer functionality.”

The notion that closed garden systems are essential to robust RTS businesses isn’t confined to Creative Assembly and Valve. Blizzard is so entrenched in the idea, in fact, that it’s refusing to launch StarCraft II, a six-year project, until the “new” Battle.net is ready and will make it impossible to play the game online anywhere else. You won’t even be able to play StarCraft II offline without a Battle.net account, and LAN functionality’s been stripped out. The Californian super-developer has constantly pushed the player benefits of this approach, but a key driver is, very obviously, piracy. No Battle.net, no next-gen Blizzard RTS.

This is a good thing, assuming you’re an RTS fan. There is a next-gen Blizzard RTS, one that’s cost a huge amount of money to make and will almost certainly last for many years. For de Plater, the answer of the question of a way forward for RTS is simple: StarCraft II is the immediate future of the genre in itself.

“For the next two years, and maybe longer, [RTS] is going to be defined by Starcraft II,” he says.

Issue orders: move out

As StarCraft II gears up for launch and RTS attempts to tackle its future, the genre must deal with its past. What exactly is the problem?

It’s simple: RTS is a relatively niche category that can flourish behind the protection of walled gardens on PCs, and must accept that it’ll only work well in the “traditional” publishing model in exceptional circumstances, as in the case of Halo Wars.

De Plater agrees on the subject of nontraditional publishing.

“There are so many ways to get games published and distributed now that there seem to be lots of exciting opportunities outside of traditional publishing,” he says.

“Fat Princess uses a lot of RTS conventions and is directly distributed on PSN. [A] friend of mine from my Total War days, Bob Smith, just developed a space conquest game called Armada 2526 almost completely independently and released it online, and Brian Reynolds who is a legend, just joined Zynga to work on Facebook strategy games. There are more possibilities than ever.”

All of which is great, as once publishers and developers circumnavigate the issues that have been castrating the genre recently, they can move onto the important stuff: the games themselves.

Trends in RTS design are genuinely exciting.

De Plater believes that “convergence with RPG, just like almost every other genre” will mark an ongoing route of success for RTS in general.

Eugen’s Girard agrees that genre convergence is part of RTS’s future.

“I currently see two trends: a strategy trend, which RUSE expands and explores, and an action trend, limited in the number of units and the depth of their controls,” he says.

This convergence was exhibited most ably recently by Relic’s Dawn of War II, where the straight base- and army-building of the original was swapped out for RPG-like hero elements and the control of small amounts of units as opposed to hundreds.

And if number-crunching’s not your thing, then online battling may well come to be. Creative Assembly certainly thinks so.

“Multiplayer is becoming increasingly popular so I think we will see more titles introducing exciting new online features,” says O’Connell.

“Our next title, Napoleon: Total War, features three multiplayer campaigns, in addition to drop-in battles so that online players can drop into your single player game to create a massively varied Total War experience. This is in addition to our trademark land and naval battles for up to eight players.”

Then, of course, there’s the question of console RTS. There’s still a way to go, but Eugen believes it can crack the puzzle with RUSE.

“I think so, yes,” says Girard when we ask if RUSE is the title that’ll make pad-based strategy truly acceptable, citing “the accessibility of the single player campaign, its fun and experience,” as well as the aforementioned hot-point controls.

“We have also lots of skirmishes and challenges to encourage shy players to try the multiplayer component,” he adds.

De Plater is still waiting for console’s true RTS epiphany, calling it a “KOTOR moment, a real built from the ground up RTS for console that doesn’t compromise on all the elements that make the genre great.

“I really think that both Halo Wars and EndWar point to the future in terms of having solved many of the control issues that were a barrier, and if we address the criticisms with regard to the depth of the game systems the sequels to both of them could be fantastic. I think that, for example, Dawn of War II, with EndWar’s camera and controls, would be a brilliant game with very few modifications to the game system.”

The future’s bright; just cut out the cocktails

It seems obvious, then, that there isn’t just one way forward for RTS, but many, on many platforms and in many guises. We’re going to see convergence and multiplay take on increasing importance in the genre, and “the” groundbreaking console game could be merely a release away.

The promise for a great future is there, but only if those creating and selling games accept that RTS’s audience is relatively small compared to other genres, and devise their products accordingly.

Keep betting black, Mr RTS. Just go easy on the stakes and rein in the liquor.

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The problem with RTS is it’s too uninvolved for the average gamer. They want to be down in the action, not clicking on it from a mile up in the sky (and I say this as someone who loves the genre). The other problem is that you can invest 15-25 minutes in a mission and have to start from the beginning because you picked the wrong strategy. Gamers these days don’t have the patience for that much repetition.

I think the only way for the genre to survive is if someone can make it more immediate and more casual friendly, the same way Mass Effect 2 hacked off the deeper RPG elements. Whether the resulting game would still count as an RTS I don’t know. The whole point of RTS is supposed to be like chess, outmanoeuvring your opponent with the right strategies, but that’s not what the modern gamer is looking for.

A “KOTOR moment” definitely sounds like something the RTS genre needs, embracing the control system of consoles and breaking into the mainstream. As it stands they do well within their niche but can’t seem to break out of it.

lets see now empire total war sold more games than kill zone 2. The reason game devs are trashing on rts is is because mircosft and sony knows that rts on consoles suck. Just like alot of genres suck on consoles.

rts is much bigger money maker than fps. The only reason rts is not getting any love is because rts really show how good them consoles really are for gaming, just like flight sims console sucks for real games!

It also another reason alot of pc gamers don’t like consoles.

I’m a genre jumper, I like to try everything I’m also a deep thinker.I think so much sometimes I can’t sleep at night. It’s the reason I play pc games it slows down my mind

I don’t think the RTS genre is in any danger of going anyway. I just think they really, really need to stop trying to make them work on consoles. It’s simply not going to unless mouses become standard.

The eventual release of Starcraft 2 will likely go a long way to prove that the RTS genre has nothing to fear for itself.

You Do Realise That It Costs More To Pirate PS3 Games Then To Buy Them For $60 New From The Store, Not That You’d Wanna Waste A 50 GB Blank Blu-Ray Disc On A 5 GB Game.

Even Still, The System Hasn’t Been Modded & Won’t Play Them Anyways, The Guy That Hacked The PS3 Hacked FW Version 2.42, The Hack Won’t Work On Current FW Version 3.15.. So Unless You Got FW Version 2.42 & Want To Only Play Offline That Hack Is Useless.

Any supposed failure of the RTS genre is never going to be down the medium itself, but rather developers getting too comfortable and regurgitating eachothers work in an endless cycle, expecting the gaming piggies to eat whatever they’re thrown. That ploy hasn’t lead the industry anywhere, and it never will.

I think there are plenty of examples of what can be done with the genre. Supreme Commander looks at a vaguely realistic composition of armies that I find fascinating as a martial geek, whereas games like Command and Conquer where you basically only have to click the same two places on the screen repeatedly to win, makes me want to drive a Mammoth tank through the developers offices for being so mindnumbingly unambitious.

The thing that makes me wonder is the complete absence of even vaguely authentic tactics in any wargame – RTS or otherwise – today. When I was a kid, we were thrilled every time we got our hands on one of the new tactical games out there, from X-Com to the real Rainbow Six games. That’s not to say that it’s the only way to go for RTS, take Warcraft 3 as a case and point, but it boggles my mind that no major developer even tries to tap into the shocking lack of tactical games. For me at least, those were some of the most rewarding games I ever played.

SC2 will probably do well, its got pedigree after all. Not sure it’ll actually help the genre though, it’ll no doubt do its own little number with other RTS’ pretty much remaining in the same state after it.
The only other RTS that’ll do well is probably RUSE… Thanks to it being a multiplat.

Interesting feature. However, when you compare a stale RTS (C&C series) to the rest of the genre, its easy to see why RTS gaming is seen as ‘dead’.

Sins of a Solar Empire had its sales success because it was a traditional PC game. It was engaging, deep and had a strong mod community.

The same is said for Empire:Total War, which managed to hit the all formats number one upon release last year.

Another RTS great, that was missed out, was the original Dawn of War games. They were superb on and offline. Its a shame the same cant be said for DoW 2 which took out all the good bits from the original, and kept them out.

I am a HUGE RTS fan and amongst my recent favourites alongside Sins and Empire has to be World in Conflict. That was an epic. Great story play off line and alot of fun online. It brought some new features to the genre and was alot of fun to play.

Another great was Universe at War. Although it didnt sell – because Sega didnt bother to support it, the game was the first RTS to allow cross platform gaming between the 360 and PC and had 3 superb factions that all played very differently.

Sega has to becareful. The previous 2 Total War games had shocking AI and we had to wait 6 months for it to be fixed. How such a gaping hole can be left in what is an essential part of game play, confuses me. If Napoleon falls to the same fate, it will be the last Total War I ever buy.

As for SC2, this will be the same game but in a new frock so to speak, I dont expect anything new or different here. If developers make an engaging experience, the sales WILL come.

“I think that, for example, Dawn of War II, with EndWar’s camera and controls, would be a brilliant game with very few modifications to the game system.”

Clearly he only played the singleplayer portion of the game and completely missed what Relic had to say about a possible console port. Saying StarCraft II will define the future of RTS is like saying a Quake II remake by id will do the same for FPS games. If the polishing factor is the one and only defining feature of a game then this industry has failed, polish should be a part of it of course but not the only thing to look out for. We’ll be set back more than 12 years if every RTS developer will suddenly start to make SCII clones with that kind of trigger-finger-happy gameplay.

With all due respect but I think you didn’t ask enough “worthy” people for an opinion; De Plater’s EndWar ended up being a big meh after all his PC RTS trash talk (try asking him how it even did on PC, with such a budget price at release, was a really nice vote of confidence by Ubisoft), The Creative Assembly proved that despite Steam’s support and easy patching you can still release an utterly broken game (which isn’t even a pure RTS, it’s a turnbased/real-time hybrid with people often spending more time in the turnbased part) and RUSE sounds more like a cardgame than anything else although it gets the benefit of the doubt for now. These folks are worth listening to for various reasons but not if you’re talking about the success of true RTS games of the past few years. Where is Relic, GPG, Massive, EALA, the ex-Ensemble peeps? Those were just as much leaders in terms of critical acclaim, innovation and/or sales.

Where is the source for games like World in Conflict being unsuccessful and leading to Massive’s “doom”? Just because they were bought by Ubisoft means the game itself wasn’t worthwhile or didn’t bring in decent sales? Never thought it had something to do with the fact Activision couldn’t handle so many studios? Massive were still giving out free maps and huge updates despite talks of their closure/sell-out. Same counts for Ensemble, people are still rightfully baffled by their closure but MS is clearly looking to be only an action game publisher, closing down one of the most successful RTS devs out there doesn’t really come as a surprise if it’s done by a console-centric company.

I have also my doubts about those RTS sales rankings you’ve gathered, it seems like it’s only based on NPD sales numbers while the majority of (PC) RTS copies are being sold in mainland Europe. SupCom did one million after a year according to Chris Taylor and that is for one of the most hardcore yet most innovative strategy games of recent times. Even repackaged tosh like C&C3 still did well enough.

On that note I’d like to add it’s a bit odd to bring out an article like this, which judges the fundamentals of an entire genre, just one month before some super-releases (SupCom 2, C&C 4, DoW II: Chaos Rising) will make their way onto the market. Why? Because console folks only got Halo Wars and some half-assed RTS ports over the years? I have respect for developers trying to get the console audience on board as well but they shouldn’t act like the past years have done nothing for the genre (hello, De Plater). It’s like saying games like Dark Reign, TA, Warzone 2100, Homeworld, Battle Realms, Original War and Battlezone never even existed. Broaden those RTS horizons folks, if you make StarCraft II look like the only thing worth watching then it’s not a big surprise so few casual gamers aren’t interested in these kind of games anymore.

Great article. Good to see this sort of thing on VG247, Pat, keep it up!

The RTS genre is definitely an odd one, and certainly from my own experience it’s one that’s felt very much in decline over the past few years.

I was a big fan of the PC RTS back in the days of the original Red Alert, Age of Empires and Age of Kings, peaking with Warcraft III. Since then I’ve only very occasionally dipped into RTS with Dawn of War II (nearly great – just needed more variety to the mission types) and EndWar on the PS3 (same really – too many samey missions and a weak single player campaign, but I never got into online which is maybe a shame) being the only titles I’ve bought of late.

On the console connection, EndWar’s voice control was remarkably well done and smoothly implemented. It certainly meant that the controls were never the issue with the game. Contrast RTS with just about any other genre, though and I think it’s the fact that RTS has relied too much on throwing the gamer into an environment and letting them get on with their base and army building, rather than the more usual approach in other genres of making something a lot more structured. Even the most traditional FPS will spice things up with missions focussed on stealth, escort, defend, attack, vehicles, capture a target, assassination and so on and so on and that’s exactly what RTS needs – some sense of imaginitive design injecting variety into the gameplay by imposing certain rules and restrictions of the game.

RTS has a lot to offer and I am looking forward to Starcraft II – here’s hoping it’s a good one.

@ 35.
here here! As I mentioned before, Universe at War was well thought out as a console game – they developed a new way to control units and, for the first time, allowed PC and 360 players to compete online.

However, those words ‘Games for Windows Live’ killed that off within days.

World in Conflict sits in my top 5 RTS games of all time and shows that if developers actually treat the genre as a PC only genre to start with (yes a console version came out much later), PC gamers will make that all important purchase.

I still get hours of play out of Empire:Total War but I am worried that Sega is damaging the brand with its unfinished AI from its last two outtings.

Endwar looked great but tried to copy World in Conflict in a half baked effort and was clearly a console port – which equals no sale in my book.

Sooner or later the industry is going to become stuck because creativity, or lack of, will hit sales (on all formats)

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Destiny players regularly compare the size of their Grimoire Points. Learn how to make yours the biggest. Destiny guide: how to earn Grimoire Points In Destiny, earning most Grimoire cards is just a matter of playing the game, maybe a little more attentively than usual. You’ll either need to complete a certain number of actions […]

Shovel Knight owners will benefit from the generosity of Kickstarter backers quite soon. Because Shovel Knight was overfunded during its Kickstarter campaign, developer Yacht Club Games committed to releasing free content updates. The first of these, Plague of Shadows, has now been detailed. The expansion stars baddy Plague Knight, who turns on his former allies, […]

GTA has a long history of controversy. The latest Did You Know Gaming tells the full stories behind the sensational headlines. Grand Theft Auto is such a byword for controversy that it’s easy to forget the full context of what actually happened to bring mainstream press, politicians and interest group awareness to the Rockstar series. […]

PlayStation Now will expand to the tune of five new games this month. The March PS Now additions are Infamous 2, Twisted Metal, R-Type Dimensions, Alone in the Dark: Inferno and Operation Flashpoint: Red River. PS Now will set you back $20 per month or $45 for a three month subscription. It offers all you […]

Final Fantasy 10/10-2 HD Remaster hits PS4 in May. The PS4 release date for Final Fantasy 10/10-2 HD Remaster is May 12 in North America and May 15 in Europe. Gematsu reports a special pre-order bonus calendar with art by Yoshitaka Amano is available through the Square Enix Store and participating retailers. In Europe, pre-ordering […]

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare players can now aspire to the ranks of Grand Master Prestige. Advanced Warfare developer Sledgehammer Games will add 15 more Prestige levels to the latest Call of Duty, giving players at max XP a chance to grow even further. According to the Sledgehammer Games blog, when you enter Master level […]

Destiny’s toughest challenge gets even nastier if you throw Creepers into the mix. The ultimate Destiny challenge – for now – is the Crota’s End raid. Taking place in an alternate dimension accessed through the Hellmouth on the Moon, the Raid takes Guardians through a pit of darkness to the resting place of Crota himself. […]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D protagonist Shulk is the Heir to the Monado, his distinctive red sword. Let this trailer fill you in on what that means. Xenoblade Chronicles 3D releases for New 3DS on April 2 in Europe and April 10 in North America. As well as all the content of the Wii original, it has […]

The Elder Scrolls: Total War is a terrific mod allowing you get get intimately involved with the history of Bethesda’s detailed fantasy universe. The first release of The Elder Scrolls: Total War dropped on the weekend, giving players their first chance to try out LoRdNazgu1‘s creation. This version runs from 3E 427 to 4E 45, […]

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 is out now. Yes, we’re surprised too. You can grab Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 on Steam for $8. Developer Scott Cawthon really doesn’t mess about; the game was only announced in early January. Here’s the blurb: Thirty years after Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed it’s doors, the events that took […]

EVE Online is a hotbed of villainy, espionage and backstabbing, but one intrepid corporate thief has made waves even in this setting. The thing about EVE Online is that it’s a true sandbox: the game’s rules are very loose, and allow players to make careers out of theft, piracy, assassination and espionage in addition to […]

Nintendo of America has announced a fresh supply of the difficult to find Marth Amiibo. The Marth Amiibo will be back in stock in the US in late April, the platform holder said on Twitter today. Planning to pick up Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and don’t have a Marth amiibo? More are headed to stores in […]

Skyrim has been granted a new beta update – more than three years after launch! – to improve the experience for modders and those who use them. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released in November 2011. I think that’s worth noting before we discuss the beta update that dropped today, even as Bethesda is working […]

Knights of Pen & Paper 2 is very serious business so please enjoy this very serious trailer. “Return to the dicey world of Knights of Pen & Paper for a new turn-based adventure, where players get to take on the role of players, and also of the game’s encounter-designing, rules-laywering GM in a fully customizable […]

Amplitude may have been delayed but we still get something this March: a fine new gameplay trailer. Amplitude is coming to PlayStation 3 and PS4 sometime in northern summer. It’s a reprisal of Harmonix’s classic rhythm action game, a forerunner to its later efforts with Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and was crowdfunded. Update: Turns […]

DayZ creator Dean “Rocket” Hall has dropped the first vague details of his new game project. “I do not want to make safe games. I do not want to make games the way we have been making them. What if the most experienced video game staff in the world collaborated on the most esoteric and […]

AMD has confirmed what most Battlefield fans thought. Battlefield Hardline will indeed support Mantle. Battlefield Hardline will support Mantle, AMD has confirmed. Some players weren’t sure whether the retail version of the game will support AMD’s API, due to its absence from the recent PC beta. AMD did not say whether the feature will be […]

Unreal Engine 4 is a pretty versatile bit of tech, as this new sizzle reel shows. As one of the more ubiquitous engines, Unreal will be on show at GDC this week. Developer Epic produced the following sizzle reel to quickly demonstrate what it can do – cutting edge graphics (there are very few games […]

The latest Survarium patch has readjusted the value of experience and reputation points gained and removed the limit to the maximum amount of ammo you can use in combat. Survarium developer Vostok Games has released patch 0.27a to the public, having recently finished testing it. The patch is a major one and covers changes to […]

Bloodborne is so close you can almost smell its coppery tang on the wind – and also you can watch commercials for it. Bloodborne arrives on PS4 at the end of this month (March 24 North America, March 25 Europe, March 27 UK) so excitement is starting to build. Sony isn’t helping keep us calm […]

Blizzard will soon allow World of Warcraft players to exchange in-game gold for game time and vice versa. Blizzard has announced a new system that will launch soon for World of Warcraft. The system is called WoW Token. Using this system, players will be able to buy game time using in-game gold. Here’s how it […]

Remember 3D Realms’ Bombshell? The isometric ARPG that was announced last year? Well, it’s back, and we get to see gameplay footage. The game stars Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, a bomb technician turned mercenary with a mechanical arm. She will embark on a quest to rescue the president and save Earth, all while shooting aliens. The […]

Epic Games has made Unreal Engine 4 available for anyone to download and use, for free. Unreal Engine 4 is now free. Anyone can download it and start using it, the developer announced today in a blog post. The download features the the full set of tools used by Epic, and includes 100% of the […]

The winner of the European round of the Call of Duty Championship has been announced. This past weekend, 28 teams representing UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, the rest of Europe and Middle East attended the final of the European round of the Call of Duty Championship. UK team Epsilon eSports was crowned […]

GOG.com is bringing back its Insomnia sale event with even more games. GOG’s Insomnia sale is back with double the amount of games. This year, there will be two sets of games available at once. The sets are seasoned classics and fresh new titles. Each set will feature games with discounts up to 90% off, […]

2K will be shutting down the servers for NBA 2K14 this month. The publisher revealed yesterday that online servers for NBA 2K14 will be turned offline on March 31. “You will no longer be able to play ranked games/online association,” reads the announcement. NBA 2K14 relied on online servers to store save files for MyCareer […]

A Dead or Alive tournament organiser has suggested a soft ban on some of the game’s “over-sexualised” costumes, and not everyone is happy. Tournament organiser “The HuBBs” took to the FreeStepDodge forums to suggest a list of rules that other offline tournaments can follow. The list goes over stages, characters, moves, which is certainly in […]

Bungie hosted an open house Q&A session with the community last week and lots of exciting news have come out of it. Arekkz Gaming has gathered all the information that came out of Bungie’s open house Q&A in one handy video. The list is massive, going over Exotic weapon balance, upcoming events, PVE, Crucible rewards, […]

Developers behind space exploration games Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen will honour the memory of Leonard Nimoy through in-game memorials. The develops of both games have confirmed separately that in-game memorials will be established to honour the memory of the late Star Trek actor, Leonard Nimoy, famous for playing Spock. Elite: Dangerous executive producer Michael […]

Amazon’s latest PlayStation 4 deal is not one to miss. With purchase of a PlayStation 4 console from Amazon in the US, the online retailer will throw in digital codes for Infamous Second Son, Killzone Shadow Fall and The Last of Us: Remastered, all for the same MSRP of $399. The Last of Us Remastered […]

The method one Redditor possibly used to leak some details from Destiny’s House of Wolves was the same one he used to predict the inventory of Xur: Agent of the Nine. Last week, Reddit user Megamanexe4 leaked a few pieces of House of Wolves expansion content. The leaks included strikes, new Crucible mode, and a […]

Mortal Kombat X will be releasing on mobile devices in some form, just not the one you except. Mortal Kombat X is coming to Android and iOS devices as an extension of the main game. It will launch in April alongside the console versions. The mobile game will be part card collecting and part fighting […]

Kojima Productions will unveil something about Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain this Wednesday. Metal Gear Solid fans should standby for a Phantom Pain-related announcement on Wednesday, March 4. According to developer Kojima Productions’ Twitter, there’s going to be an announcement at 2pm GMT on Wednesday. The developer posted the following image. The image […]

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Battlefield Hardline’s Premium membership will give players access to 4 new features, early access to expansion packs and more. EA detailed the offer today – it costs $50 in total (£40 in the UK) and gives players a whole bundle of new gear and content. Check it all out in handy list form below: Masks […]

Voice actor and Hollywood writer David Hayter discusses the differences between movies and games. And politely declines my leading question. “It might be fun to do a crazy, over-the-top film version of Saint’s Row.” Yeah, that headline is a bit cheap but you’re reading the work of a man who once asked the maker of […]

Microsoft has knocked up to £100 off Xbox One bundles in the UK. The Xbox One with Kinect Assassin’s Creed bundle is now £100 cheaper and comes with a free £20 voucher to be spent on the official Microsoft online store. Over on the Xbox online store there’s a £70 price cut on the white […]

Free-to-play 3DS title Pokemon Shuffle has been downloaded over 1 million times. As a reward for playing the match-3 puzzle game Nintendo has gifted players a Complexity -1 item for free. The item reduces the difficulty of a level, according to Eurogamer. By all accounts Pokemon Shuffle is a cynical game with poorly implemented microtransactions. […]

FrozenByte Games has revealed Trine 3, due for release in 2015 And what better way to reveal a new side-scrolling adventure than with a very pretty trailer full of gameplay? The latest in a series that has already sold 7 million copies is earmarked for PC and “other” formats. Trine 2 released on PS3, PS3, […]

A month since it was released on digital platforms, Dying Light’s physical release has topped the UK charts. Techland and Warner’s zombie survival game has proven to be one of the big hits of the year so far. It was released on digital formats a month ago but has only just been released on good-old […]

Think you can take down a jet plane with a grenade throw? This guy can. In fact, he can do it twice. This is in a variation on the player-created deathmatch “Stunters Versus Snipers” which seem to be all the rage in GTA Online at the moment. One team has a sniper rifle (and grenades) […]

The Phantom Pain looks nice even when Kojima just takes a quick pic with his phone. Look at that beauty. We get nice reflection in pink at the first gray of dawn.
pic.twitter.com/aERTBoZT9z — HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 2, 2015 The game doesn’t have a release date yet, which makes us a bit nervous for it […]

Dying Light still has legs – maybe because it’s crammed full of secret things to discover. Ten of those have been highlighted by TerraMantis’ latest YouTube video, including reference to the Underpant Gnomes, guitar lessons, farting zombies and well, we don’t want to spoil it for you. Even if you think you’ve seen everything in […]

Why blind ‘em with science when you could kill ‘em with dance moves? revelations raid When I say Resident Evil: Revelations 2‘s Raid Mode dance gestures are deadly, I’m not being figurative. If you finish the first chapter of Revelations 2 you can unlock Gina for use in Raid Mode. All characters can use gestures […]

“Male Inquisitors can now scale the wall,” says a clever Redditor. A new Dragon Age: Inquisition mod removes Blackwall’s romantic restrictions, allowing male Inquisitors to chat up the fuzzy-faced warrior. Blackwall doesn’t have any race preferences, so you’re good to go there. Dragon Age: Inquisition romance mods are pretty common by now, and to be […]

Destiny players willing to faff about with their system clock can solo the Weekly Nightfall if they prefer. The Weekly Heroic is one of Destiny‘s toughest challenges. Responding to player feedback Bungie implemented matchmaking for the Weekly Heroic, but there are players who genuinely prefer to go it alone. There’s now no legitimate way to […]

A Clayfighter remake is inbound, apparently. Interplay has announced a Clayfighter remaster, combining the content of all past games into one package. Features include: Characters such as Bad Mr. Frosty, Blue Suede Goo, Earthworm Jim, Hoppy, Boogerman, Tiny – and more with over 20 characters total Over 20 familiar environments from the series to duke […]

Dying Light players! Are you sick of picking your way carefully up the sides of tall towers? Have I got a trick for you. The parkour system in Dying Light is okay, but climbing anywhere especially high can be a bit tedious. Enter Jesse Lester, who took a look at the tools available and worked […]

Destiny developer Bungie won’t stop tinkering with Exotic weapons. In Destiny, Exotic weapons are supposed to be the best of the best – and to feel unique. Guns like Ice Breaker and Gjallahorn definitely hit the mark there (although less so when everyone has one), but unfortunately, there are a few that just don’t strike […]

Uncharted 4′s first proper trailer bears some remarkable similarities to the opening moments of a much earlier Naughty Dog game. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has more in common with Crash Bandicoot than you might think. It’s Naughty Dog’s first game on a new console, yes – but if you compare Uncharted 4′s E3 2014 […]

Sonic Team leader Takashi Iizuka has said there are no plans to stop making Sonic games. Sonic hasn’t retired from the ranks just yet. “Please rest assured, I personally have no plans to stop making Sonic games for home consoles,” Iizuka told 4Gamer [Japanese]. The comment arose after the site asked if Sonic would become […]

Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones will soon be available on PlayStation platforms, if a trophy list is to be believed. Stealth Inc. 2 initially launched as a Wii U exclusive, disappointing fans of Curve Studios’ tough action game. We’ve heard nothing to contradict this, but Exophase, a generally reliable source, has dug up […]

Runescape developer Jagex is working on something new. According to Jagex’s careers page, the developer has a new, unannounced game in the works. Its advertisement for a lead programmer makes explicit mention of an “undisclosed MMO”. The ad mentions the new title is in “the preliminary stages of redefining the cross platform MMORPG genre” and […]

Destiny developer Bungie has said it will change the way Crucible rewards work. Destiny players are always complaining about the perfidy of RNGesus, but there’s one area where it particularly hurts: the Crucible. PvP players often receive nothing at all for excellent performances, and sometimes Guardians receive the best drops merely for logging in as […]